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This year April 15 is more than the tax deadline for an estimated one million New York State residents. It’s also the deadline to register “assault weapons” and “high-capacity” magazines. If they don’t, they’ll begin living outside the law. A lot of them have decided to do just that. They’ve decided to practice civil disobedience even though failure to register an “assault weapon” by the deadline is punishable as a “class A misdemeanor,” which means a maximum sentence of one year in prison.

I put “assault weapon” and “high-capacity” in quotes because their definitions vary by state—they’re political terms. In New York State, the SAFE Act passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo in January 2013, uses an expansive and elaborate definition of “assault weapon” that includes a lot more than AR-15s. Now even a semiautomatic Remington Model 1100 shotgun—a popular shotgun first made in 1963 that is used by millions of hunters and skeet shooters—is an “assault weapon” in New York State if the shotgun has a pistol grip. Many other commonly owned pistols, shotguns and rifles are also now labeled “assault weapons” in New York State.

When I asked the New York State Police how many New York gun owners had registered the guns they own that now fit somewhere into the state’s expansive “assault weapons” category the state responded: “New York State Police cannot release information related to the registration of assault weapons including the number of assault weapons registered. Those records you seek are derived from information collected for the State Police database and are, therefore, exempt from disclosure.”

This is the same dilemma Connecticut gun owners found themselves in at the end of 2013. As of December 31, 2013, according to Lt. J. Paul Vance of the Connecticut State Police (), the state had received 41,347 applications to register “assault weapons” and 36,932 applications to register “high-capacity” magazines. That means that more than 300,000 Connecticut residents decided not to register their “assault weapons,” moved them out of state, or sold them.

These are Bushmaster AR-15s made for American citizens at Remington's factory in Ilion, New York.

The numbers of gun owners who might still have “assault weapons” in New York and Connecticut are not guesses. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for firearms manufacturers, estimates there are likely 350,000 residents of Connecticut who had now banned “assault weapons” as of late 2013. The NSSF says, “The 350,000 number is a conservative estimate based on numerous surveys, consumer purchases, NICS background check data and also private-party transactions.” The NSSF used the same criteria to estimate that at least one million New York residents had “assault weapons” the state banned the sale of and demanded that owners register with the police.

The next question is what the states will do about all those gun owners who now might be living outside the law. Will the state police seek search warrants? Connecticut’s Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP) has been using a “Sale or Transfer of All Firearms” form at the retail level that acts as a de facto registration, as it requires that gun sales, along with make, model, serial number and the buyer’s information to be reported to the DESPP and the police. As a result, the CSP has information on which residents might have an unregistered firearm the state considers an “assault weapon.” When I asked if the CSP would use late-registration applications to obtain warrants to seize “assault weapons” Lt. Vance told me, “We don’t make the laws our legislature has that responsibility.” In New York, many sheriffs departments have said they won’t enforce this law.

In both states the politicians and police forces are reluctant to enforce their gun bans and gun-registration schemes that are now making tens of thousands otherwise law-abiding residents into potential criminals.

Some gun owners, however, are not waiting to see what happens in the courts and in coming elections. For example, Rich Burgess, president of a pro-gun-rights group called Connecticut Carry, has been publicly trying to force state politicians to back up their legislation with enforcement or repeal. Burgess released a letter on March 3, 2014 saying, “A recent media tidal wave based on false reports and bad journalism has proven a few things about the 2013 Gun Ban: people from Connecticut and around the nation are tired of being threatened; are ready to make a stand; and the State of Connecticut does not have the stomach to enforce the edicts and laws with which they threaten gun owners…. Connecticut Carry calls on every State official, every Senator, and every Representative, to make the singular decision: Either enforce the laws as they are written and let us fight it out in court, or else repeal the 2013 Gun Ban in its entirety.”

I asked a few gun owners in New York and Connecticut who have or used to own so-called “assault weapons” what they are doing. I’ll leave their names and other identifiable information out of this article, but speaking to them was like talking to people who’ve always thought of themselves as good citizens but who nevertheless have found themselves in an untenable position in the “the land of the free and the home of the brave,” as Francis Scott Key described America. They don’t believe in gun registries, as registries have historically led to gun confiscations. They believe in their privacy. They believe that only those who commit crimes should be punished. They don’t believe they should be treated as potential criminals in a free country. After all, the Second Amendment in the U.S. Bill of Rights is a restriction placed on the government to the safeguard citizen’s right to own and carry arms. It wasn’t written to empower the government to peep into gun cabinets.

One told me, “I Just came from my local gun store. I had to test a shotgun refitted with a straight stock to make it compliant. It still holds nine rounds, but the world is now a little safer without that evil pistol grip.”

Another told me, “I have four friends who have either bought homes or property out of Connecticut or are shopping hard. This issue was the final straw for them.”

Yet another said, “Gun owners are pissed off and nervous. They don’t know if the state will enforce based on long-gun purchase records held by the State Police, but they are encouraged and feel a little vindicated at the level of disobedience.”

Several said they’d shipped their “bad” guns out of state. Still more told me they’re just keeping their guns locked up as they wait to see what happens.

Court challenges are underway in both states. Elections are coming. When tens of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens suddenly either have to report to the police or break the law, something has to give. This is why many politicians don’t want the issue to reach a political fervor that would force more in the media to investigate and perhaps give face to the many law-abiding gun owners who are now potential criminals for owning firearm types their fathers and grandfathers owned. (Yes grandfathers. Semiautomatic pistols and rifles were developed and popularly sold in the late nineteenth century. Even the AR-15 was designed in the 1950s and first sold to the public by Colt more than half a century ago in 1962.)

Many gun makers have responded by moving or expanding outside of New York and Connecticut. Remington, for example, has made guns in Ilion, New York, since 1816; however, earlier this year Remington Outdoor Company (ROC) decided that a new expansion wouldn’t take place on its historic ground in Ilion. They bought the old Chrysler building in Huntsville, Alabama, instead. George Kollitides, executive chairman and CEO of ROC, explained they’d create more than 2,000 new jobs within the next 10 years in the much more gun-friendly state of Alabama. Kollitides said, “Remington was careful about exploring all the options when considering what could be their home for our next 200 years.”